D(?)A(?)O - Decentralization and Autonomy
D(?)A(?)O - Decentralization and Autonomy
A framework to analyze decentralization and autonomy in “DAOs” by James Duncan
As part of our new Stateless initiative, we’re excited to present a guest opinion piece on DAOs by James Duncan. It was first published on Square 1 and we’re re-publishing it on our new Stateless Mirror publication.
James lays out a framework to analyze decentralization and autonomy in DAOs (which, of course, is an acronym for “decentralized autonomous organizations”).
Specifically, his framework focuses on two types of decentralization - technical and cultural - that feed into whether an organization can be considered autonomous. Importantly, James also discusses the multiple definitions of “autonomous” within the context of crypto-based systems; which is often understood as technical automation (the extent to which a system is independent and self-executing) and/or political autonomy (the freedom of an organization to coordinate autonomously from outside influence).
In its entirety, James’ framework adds to a vital knowledge base that the crypto ecosystem can rely on to analyze its activities in pursuit of scaling decentralized systems. As experimentation in crypto-based, distributed organizations continues, it will be increasingly important to give careful thought to what tools and frameworks work best in certain use cases and contexts.
As James mentions in his conclusion, these systems offer “a path for thousands of governance experiments to run concurrently.” At Boardroom, we’re incredibly excited to help equip these experiments with both the tools they need to scale and succeed as well as the information they need to learn from each other (via Stateless).
Stay tuned for more awesome content like this here and on our Mirror page. And if you haven’t already clicked, check out James’ full piece on Mirror:
Stateless by Boardroom is a community-driven resource covering digital and distributed organizations and their governance. If you’re interested in contributing to Stateless, we’d love for you to reach out to us on the Boardroom Discord.